From: Smith, James H., 1880, History of Chenango and Madison Counties, New York. D. Mason & Co.. Syracuse, NY

M.M. Hess
Page 735
 

        M.M. Hess was born in the town of Fenner, Madison Co., NY, on March 24, 1837.  He was the youngest of six children, having two brothers and three sisters, all of whom are living, and who are from fifteen to twenty-three years older than himself.  Mr. Hess lived with his parents until he was twenty-two years of age, with the exception of a few terms attending school and four or five terms teaching.  Since that time he has been engaged in mercantile and commission business.  For fifteen years he has carried on business in Canastota, NY, where he was thoroughly and favorably known as the "cash man" for everything the farmer brought to market.
        Mr. Hess was married at the age of twenty-five to Sarah E. Haynes, of Preble, Cortland Co., NY.  His father, David Hess, was born and reared in the town of Rensselaerville, Albany Co., being of a family of nine children that lived to an aggregate age of over seven hundred and fifty years; was married at the age of twenty-one to Prudence Shaw, one of seven children of John Shaw, a British deserter in the Revolutionary war, who served our country in a number of hard battles and until the time of peace.  They then moved to Fenner, Madison county, and bought a farm where they owned and occupied the same until their death, both living to a ripe old age; he being largely interested and very successful in agriculture and politics for twenty-seven years, filling the most important offices of the town.